By Nathan Kanter

Beaver Blues trio shines in win over Shellbrook

Jan 20, 2017 | 10:45 PM

The Battleford Beaver Blues exploded for nine goals in their win over the Shellbrook Silvertips on Friday evening at Battleford Arena.

The 9-5 win was their ninth in the 2016-17 Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League regular season with just four games to go. Their 9-5 record currently has them fourth out of 10 teams.

Scoring in droves isn’t new for the Beaver Blues, as they have 91 goals in just 14 games this season. How they managed to win also wasn’t new, as once again it was their top trio of Cody Danberg, Mike George and Brent Salzl leading the way. Danberg had two goals and an assist, George had a goal and three helpers, and Salz had two goals and two assists.

The linemates also currently sit second, third, and fourth in league scoring, Danberg with 46 points, Salzl with 41, and George with 34.

“We’ve got some speed, we’ve got some chemistry, we all find areas [and] can make room for one another out there,” Danberg said when asked why they click so well. “The bottom line is we can find a way to put the puck in the back of the net.

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“It’s been a lot of fun.”

“We all compliment each other,” Salzl, the captain on the team, added. “We’ve got guys who like to grind, we’ve got guys who can hold onto that puck and open up ice, we’ve got guys who can score…We’ve all been coaced very similar and we all work well together so it works out nice.”

On Friday the Beaver Blues scored on the power play, shorthanded, and at even strength.

Their offence was clearly firing on all cylinders.

But before Friday, they had dropped two close games, 8-6 to the Hafford Hawks one week ago, and 5-4 to the Maymont Settlers six days before that.

“Last game we were up a couple goals going into the third and we let them come back and steal that one on us,” George said of the loss to Hafford. “The game before we just couldn’t bury the puck. So it was nice to get back on a winning note here. These are obvious the crunch time months where all of the habits come into play.

“[This win] is huge for us.”

All three also all played junior A hockey, two of them with the North Stars.

George and Salzl each play for the North Stars for three years, while Danberg spent his junior A career out further west with the Nanaimo Clippers. George would later go on to play 59 games for the Columbus Cottonmouths in the Southern Professional Hockey League, where he put up 50 points. Danberg would turn his BCHL years into a six-year stint with the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, including a year spent as captain.

Danberg followed up his college career by playing semi-pro in a peculiar hockey locationL Australia.

“It was a basic five-month stint [and] me and a buddy went over there,” Danberg said. “It’s, I would say, kind of a glorified senior league to be honest with you. It’s semi-pro. They put us up there for five months and got to tour and travel Australia while playing hockey during their winter.”

But that’s the past and now all three players have formed the most dangerous line in the SPHL.

The hope is their chemistry keeps leading to goals, which in turn leads to wins with the playoffs on the horizon.

“It’s coming down to crunch time,” Salzl said.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11